'Thinking out of the 'box' is what I do. An Igbo adage said ''nkem di iche bu ajo afa''. I dont think that's true. Being different is the first step to a long lasting change.
Dare to be different, dare to think differently

Tuesday, 9 February 2016

The need to explore agriculture as an alternative to
oil hitherto is the most sang song in Nigeria after the national anthem.
Successive governments have pledged to revive the agricultural sector to its
past glory (the days of the groundnut pyramid of Kano and the oil palm
plantations of the South East). And what is their approach? Subsidizing
fertilizers and farm inputs (which most times doesn’t get to the real farmers
in the field, rather it ends with the air-conditioned bedroom farmers).

On a normal day, that should have been a good bait to
lure people (particularly the youths who are the targeted test organisms) into
agriculture but truth be told, Nigerians are not ‘normal’ people. Nigeria has
gotten to that point of rot where pride of job or career is lost to a
communicable disease called get-rich-quick syndrome.

To revive agriculture, you don’t need to subsidize
anything or give out farm inputs for free. What you need is to convince an
average Nigerian graduate that they can make money (plenty of it) from farming.
If you cannot achieve that, borrow all the money in the world and pump into
agriculture and it will be in futility. The same old people and plebs doing the
jobs now will still be the same faces there tomorrow. Sadly we all know how far
they can go.

The mistake was made a long time ago and thinking that
it can be corrected overnight is a mere myth. Government should forget the
current crop of youths (17 – wherever the age tag, ‘youth’, ends). Going after
them is a wild goose chase. I imagine someone coming to give me lecture about
going to the farm with my current orientation, heavens save you I don’t have a
slap to give at that moment because I will give you a resounding one.

Quote me, as much as 80% of youths, right from their
first year in the university are already day dreaming and romancing with oil
companies and multinationals in their mind (including the so-called
agricultural science students).

My approach is a practical and simple one and goes
thus;

First off, Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the
way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it” (NKJV). This
passage summarises my approach. Revival of agriculture should start from
schools––primary and secondary.

Let having a school farm be a pre-requisite before a
school can be approved. As young as from primary five, the class should be
split into teams and each team given a portion of land to farm any food of
their choice (under the guidance of their agricultural science teacher) on the
condition that the crop can be harvested within three months (duration of a
term).

Let the quality and quantity of each groups’ harvest be
recorded as part of their continuous assessment (a substantial part). In the
few schools (and I guess if there is any, really) where this is already in
practice, there is a disturbing trend in which the school management gang up
and convert the produce while the pupils get nothing. This is a NO NO and in
fact is one of the problems. It should be made a criminal offence.

On the contrary, the school management should be
charged with organising a food or agricultural fair at the end of the term. The
school will be saddled with the responsibility of inviting dignitaries too. The
teams will get a chance to sell off their produce in unction. The basic idea is
to let these young minds know they can make money from agriculture (farming).

The schools can keep 10 – 20% of the revenue each team
gets for maintaining the farms but the bulk of the money should stay and be
shared among each team members. This can be replicated in a larger scale for
secondary and possibly tertiary institutions and with other forms of farming
such as fishery, piggery, poultry and so on. Believe me; the thrill will not
wear off in a hurry.

Where
is the place of government in all of these?

The government will play the fatherly role of putting
the right policies in place (like making sure schools comply and formulating
laws to punish defaulting schools and some form of tax incentives). Government
can also provide loans and land to farmers who are working on expansion. Like
many other venture, agriculture will not live long if starved of social
amenities of which the most important are road and water. Another surging
problem is security.

All these are primary responsibilities of the government.
When all these have been done and agriculture still continues its downward
plunge in Nigeria, then I will conclude that the Bible lied.

About Me

My name is Anthony Emecheta l Enthusiastic writer l Not award winning anything l One failed attempt at a novella publication l Freelance writer, but don't expect me to do it for free l Trust me to always talk about what people don't want to talk about.